December 17, 2007

Top criminologists take public policy stances

In a special "gala" issue of Criminology & Public Policy, 27 of the most influential criminologists alive take policy policy stances on issues ranging from juvenile curfews and the death penalty to sex offender residency restrictions and police gang units. The goal of each invited essay was to suggest that enough empirical evidence exists on the topic to support one specific recommendation, and to provide a summary of that evidence. Unfortunately, the essays are not available online, but I'm sure that if you are interested in a topic you can Google the author and obtain a reprint.

The recommendations include:
IMPOSE AN IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS
JAMES R. ACKER

ABOLISH JUVENILE CURFEWS
KENNETH ADAMS

ABOLISH LIFETIME BANS FOR EX-FELONS

SHAWN D. BUSHWAY & GARY SWEETEN

ABANDON FELON DISENFRANCHISEMENT POLICIES

ROBERT D. CRUTCHFIELD

MAKE REHABILITATION CORRECTIONS' GUIDING PARADIGM

FRANCIS T. CULLEN

EXPAND THE USE OF POLICE GANG UNITS

SCOTT H. DECKER

END NATURAL LIFE SENTENCES FOR JUVENILES

JEFFREY FAGAN

MAKE POLICE OVERSIGHT INDEPENDENT AND TRANSPARENT

JACK R. GREENE

BAN THE BOX TO PROMOTE EX-OFFENDER EMPLOYMENT

JESSICA S. HENRY, JAMES B. JACOBS

TARGET JUVENILE NEEDS TO REDUCE DELINQUENCY

PETER R. JONES, BRIAN R. WYANT

COLLECT AND RELEASE DATA ON COERCIVE POLICE ACTIONS

ROBERT J. KANE

MANDATE THE ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF POLICE INTERROGATIONS

RICHARD A. LEO, KIMBERLY D. RICHMAN

IMPLEMENT AND USE COURT PERFORMANCE MEASURES

BRIAN J. OSTROM, ROGER A. HANSON

JUST SAY NO TO D.A.R.E.

DENNIS P. ROSENBAUM
(One of my personal favoritess; it's high time to abolish harmful "Just Say No" messages targeting children.)

TRANSFER THE UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM FROM THE FBI TO THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS
RICHARD ROSENFELD

USE PROBATION TO PREVENT MURDER
LAWRENCE W. SHERMAN
(This is a provocative essay on forecasting homicide.)

REVISE POLICIES MANDATING OFFENDER DNA COLLECTION

RALPH B. TAYLOR, JOHN S. GOLDKAMP, DORIS WEILAND, CLAIRISSA BREEN, R. MARIE GARCIA, LAWRENCE A. PRESLEY, BRIAN R. WYANT

ELIMINATE RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS FOR SEX OFFENDERS
JEFFERY T. WALKER

PROTECT INDIVIDUAL PUNISHMENT DECISIONS FROM MANDATORY PENALTIES
FRANKLIN E. ZIMRING